The History of the Hard-Boiled Detective :: essays research papers

There are many sub-genres of detective simile and hard-bitten fiction is unmatchable of them. What exactly is hard-boiled detective fiction? Hard-Boiled detective fiction is fiction that features tough, cynical, urban private eyes who expose corruption and frequently aim injured in the course of their investigations (Detective Fiction, Literary). Hard-Boiled fiction is considered one of the more popular sub-genres of detective fiction there have been numerous films and novels near urban detectives exposing corruption in the police force and in politics. The author credited with inventing the first successful hard-boiled story is Carroll John Daly. His character, Terry Mack, was warm to fight, was quick to shoot and he made plenty of wise-cracks (Marling). This character is what defined hard-boiled detective fiction and is the prototype for thousands of other detectives. To really understand what sets hard-boiled fiction apart from other type of detective fiction you need to kn ow about the history of detective fiction up to when hard-boiled fiction was invented.Characters that use logical reasoning and notice clues have been appearing in literature since the 6th century BC. The first appearance of a detective want character was the fox in Aesops fables. In one story the fox decided not to enter a hungry lions cave when he saw that there were many animal footprints going into the cave but none coming out (Detective Fiction, Literary). Another superannuated detective was Daniel from the Bible. In one of the stories Daniel exposes a religious fraud by tracking the culprits footprints (Detective Fiction, Literary). In a different story Daniel uncovers a cabal by questioning two witnesses separately to reveal contradictions in their evidence (Detective Fiction, Literary).The actual invention of detective fiction did not occur until 1841 when Edgar Allen Poe wrote The Murders in the Rue Morgue. In this novel Poe introduced Auguste Dupin, who was the main char acter of the story. In Poes story the detective was very intelligent and he had superior reasoning skills. Poes story set the basic plot for detective stories of that time. A crime, usually murder, is committed a detective investigates the crime a number of suspects are considered the shamefaced party is discovered and imprisoned, killed, or allowed to escape at the conclusion (Detective Fiction, 1 Twentieth Century). The detective story was originally a competition between the commentator and the writer. It was a game intended to challenge the intellect and stimulate though. The reader is challenged by the writer to attempt to solve the mystery with the clues provided.